Sewing Maternity Tops

Being pregnant has been a great excuse to try my hand at sewing myself more knit tops - something that I have wanted to do but hadn't prioritized. Having more of a deadline to get things done for them to be useful while I was pregnant helped me get in gear!  I have been lucky to also get some nice maternity clothes as hand-me-downs and bought a few things, but I was having a lot of fun sewing these up too.  I was tempted to make more but realized it would be kind of ridiculous - but hopefully I can keep that energy going to make more clothes for myself and the kiddo in the future!

I made a few out of upcycled tops that I had found at thrift stores - I found that starting with a top that was a 2X size or larger was good to make sure that there was plenty of fabric to use and particularly that it would be long enough to cover my growing belly.  For the aqua colored top above, I reused the original neckline and the sleeve and bottom hems.  I traced a maternity tee that I owned for the basic tee pattern (sleeve/armhole/sides), and added the gathering below the bust before I cut out the pieces. (To add the gathering, I just sewed a piece of elastic on the wrong side of the shirt, stretching it as much as I could as I sewed).  I sewed everything together just using my regular sewing machine, using the knit stitch which is kind of a slight zigzag (the symbol looks like a lightning bolt on my machine) and am very happy with how it turned out!

This v-neck tee is even more basic, but was put together basically the same way (minus the gathering at the bust) - I used the original neckline and hems again.  I really like the color of this one, it has been a nice basic to wear.

I also made some tops just starting with knit fabric that I had on hand.  I honestly haven't worn this one too much both because the fit is a little off and it's not really my color... but it was fun practice at least.  I had remembered seeing Anna from Noodlehead's t-shirt tutorial where you make a t-shirt with kind of dolman-style sleeves where they are just part of the front and back pattern pieces rather than inset at the shoulder.  I didn't actually look back at the tutorial before I sewed, which probably would have helped - I think a looser fit in the bust/shoulders is definitely more flattering for this type of tee and it's not what I did.  It's not horrible but like I said, it's not my favorite.  Definitely piques my interest to try this style tee again though!

See how there's just a seam down the top of the shoulder?  Definitely easy construction.

The last two things that I sewed were based on one of my favorite styles of tops/dresses, where you have a gathered cross front.  I made a top as practice (and because I wanted a top) and then I made a dress with the same basic style and pattern.   I was pretty proud that I was able to figure out how to make the gathered cross front based on modifying a regular t-shirt pattern and that it turned out so nicely!

I didn't have the energy to take photos and write up a tutorial when I was making these, but this style shirt would also be great for non-maternity so if I make another I may write up a tutorial.  I'm hoping that both this top and the dress still work for non-maternity wear (and it certainly would be easy to make a non-maternity style using less fabric/gathers for the lower part).  When I made them, I intentionally designed them to be fairly low cut and intended to wear with a tank underneath - I figure that after baby is born, I can wear them with a nursing tank and they'll work great for that too!

(Ahem, pardon the jeans under the dress.  We took all these photos one day and I didn't feel like changing out of my jeans when we got to taking the photos of the dress.)

The back for the shirt was also similar to the back of the dress, with some gathers/pleats but not as many as the front.

As you can tell from these photos, I'm definitely in the home stretch of this pregnancy! We actually took these a few weeks ago so I think I look even more pregnant now. Our baby is due next week so she could come anytime in the next few weeks! I have already started my maternity leave from work and am taking advantage of the time to rest and also do some more crafts, so hopefully I'll find time to come back and put up another post or two before baby arrives (unless she comes sooner rather than later).

2012 Birthday Socks

Since Lawson and I have been dating, each year I have knit him a pair of socks for his birthday (OK, often they are actually finished a bit after his birthday... you can see the last couple years socks here and here).  After making him fingering weight socks the first year I have stuck to heavier weight yarns since then... I am always amazed by how much larger his socks need to be than mine, so this helps me get them finished without getting totally frustrated.  Sport weight yarn seems to be the perfect weight, yielding a really wearable slightly heavy weight sock, and actually I have been knitting my own socks with sport weight yarn more and more too, and enjoying how quick they are to make and how they are more durable.

So I am always keeping an eye out for nice sport weight sock yarn, and looking online last year I asked Lawson what colorway he preferred of Heritage 150 Paints sock yarn, and I have to say I was surprised when he picked this colorful red and orange one!  It was certainly more fun to knit with than some of the drab solid colors I've used for his socks in other years and he seems very happy with them.

I finished them a good month or two after his birthday this year, and then the first time he wore them (just around the house) they somehow got a huge run in the sole of one foot.  I don't know if there was a problem with the yarn or if they just got caught on a nail or something and ripped, but I took them back to fix and didn't get to it until early this year.  Since I had knitted them from the top down, I just took out the foot starting where the rip was, and reknit the foot and toe.  Lawson was very patient but has enjoyed having his finished socks back!

One of my favorite knitting books is Sensational Knitted Socks, since it lets you come up with a customized pattern for socks based on your gauge and the repeat of the stitch pattern you want to use, and I used that again for these socks.  I just did a simple mistake rib (alternating rows of k1 p1 and rows of knit) for the pattern, with a bit of a rolled cuff at the top and my regular heel flap heel and standard toe.

Socks are one of my favorite things to knit, but I really didn't knit as many pairs last year as usual - between getting caught up with knitting hats and cowls last winter/spring and then baby sweaters as gifts and for our baby most of the summer and fall!  I had bought this Shibui Stacatto sock yarn almost entirely because I loved the colors, and cast on a pair of socks for myself on Christmas eve when I didn't have another project to work on and didn't have anything else ready to start.

As I was knitting I loved how soft the yarn was (its a beautiful blend of soft merino wool and silk with just a touch of nylon), and just hoped that they would wear well over time.  I am so thrilled that after several washings they are still in very good shape and deliciously soft - I am definitely planning to find more of this yarn and make myself some more socks with it!

I kept these socks even more basic, with just simple stockinette stitch after a cuff, and they were really quick to knit up since the yarn is sport weight.  I referred to a new book, The Sock Knitter's Handbook, (by the same author as my favorite Sensational Socks book), in knitting these - it has the key formulas for heels and toes and other essential sock-knitting info, and is a smaller more portable size.  I'm excited to have a new handy sock reference book!

Purple and red improv quilt

I'm going to try to get over my compunction to have to "catch up" on everything chronologically before sharing anything more recent and share this quilt that I finished earlier this month.  I love how it turned out so I didn't want to wait to share!

I made this quilt for a dear friend who lives on the east coast and has been having some pretty serious health troubles over the past several years that have gotten worse lately.  I was feeling pretty helpless to do anything from afar, but she has been having to spend a lot of time resting and I figured a quilt to wrap herself up in couldn't hurt.  I feel like I almost always am making baby quilts, so it was actually really fun to make something for an adult and not worry that it was going to be too modern or not what the parents wanted.  I've been so inspired by the improv quilts that my online friends have made, especially Krista and Natalie, so it was a great chance to play around with the technique!

I was pretty sure that my friend's living room had some bright red and purple accents in it so that was the color scheme I started with.  The Anna Maria Horner Innocent Crush fabric (near the top left in the block above) was a great fit for both the color scheme and the feel that I was going for, and it inspired me to add pops of bright yellow/orange in each block.  I used a mixture of scraps and cutting up some of my stash fabrics, so there is really quite a variety of fabrics in the quilt which is fun.

I tried to keep the blocks interesting with some more detailed/smaller pieced parts and some larger pieces mixed in.  I forgot to measure the final quilt and I don't think I even wrote down the dimensions of each block, but I am pretty sure that they were about 12"x14" before I added the white (Kona snow) borders, which I think were 1.5" strips to finish at 1" after I pieced them.  I used everyone's new favorite neutral, yarn-dyed essex cotton/linen blend in black, which I just love the texture of and how it plays off the bright colors.  I quilted it with a random lines design which I think is a great match for the improv piecing - you can't really see it in the photos but I quilted using a lilac thread which was a fun complement to the color scheme.

I also made my first scrappy binding which was a fun way to play up the scrappy, improv nature of the blocks.  I machine sewed the binding as I have started to do more often, it just is so fast and its nice to know that it will be really durable (although I still love a hand-sewn binding too).  The backing is a thrifted crimson red sheet which you can see a peek of above.

I'm happy to say that my friend loves the quilt and it's nice to know that I'm helping take care of her in a small way even if I can't be there myself!

A few baby sweaters

I have always had the problem when I keep a journal that I compulsively feel the need to "catch up" by writing about what has happened in order before getting to the current events... Anyone else have that problem? In any case, I seem to be falling into that same trap here. Despite my lack of energy for blogging all summer and fall, I really did do quite a bit of crafting, and I do want to share all those projects! I may need to work on loosening up and sharing some more recent stuff too, though, before I forget all the interesting details.

I made both of these baby sweaters over the summer and they were both gifts for new babies that came this summer, and both made with knit picks comfy yarn (the first in worsted weight and the second in sport weight) - this is a great yarn for baby items, very soft and easy to work with and I love the range of colors it comes in.

This cute sweater for my nephew was made from the little coffee bean pattern and I just love the stripes - it's really fun to browse through the other ones folks have made on ravelry and see all the color combinations. I'm definitely hoping to make one of these for our peanut at some point (maybe in one of the larger, toddler sizes that the designer sells a pattern for).

I made this yellow sweater for our friends' baby from the seamless yoked baby sweater pattern.  I loved how simple this sweater was to knit, but that it still had the nice detail of the slip stitch design on the yoke.  There are links on the ravelry page for this pattern to a number of other similar seamless baby sweater patterns from this designer and I'll definitely be tempted to try some of them (or make this one again).

Love these cute vintage buttons that I used on the sweater too!

I have three different sweaters that I've made for our baby that are all nearly but not quite finished... two just need to be blocked and have buttons sewn on and the last one I need to do some (annoying and somewhat tricky) seaming and pick up and knit a button band... I've been indulging myself with fun little new projects instead of just finishing them all up, but hopefully I'll motivate to get them all finished soon.